“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth,'” (Revelation 3:15-17, ESV).
In his epic poem The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri placed the lukewarm at the gateway to hell, neither in hell nor in heaven. They are “melancholy souls . . ./Who lived withouten infamy or praise,” (Canto III, 35-36). They, in fact, “never were alive,” (64).
They were, Stephen Smith asserts, “souls who have lost truth, have lost God.” The lukewarm “would not exercise their liberty,” and missed out on life and eternity.
Not following God or Satan, Dante explains, they looked out for themselves alone.
Being outside hell sounds better than being inside, but Dante says such souls “envious are of every other fate,” (III, 48). Their end is worse than all others.
Of course, Dante’s poem is literature, not theology.
For theology, we can look to Francis Chan whose discussion of the lukewarm supports Dante’s placement of the lukewarm to either good or evil outside of heaven.
In Chan’s analysis, the lukewarm act like Christians. They go to church. They give money to good causes. But when what is right conflicts with what is popular, the lukewarm “care more about what people think of their actions (like church attendance and giving) than what God thinks of their hearts and lives.”
Chan says such lukewarm churchgoers don’t want to be saved from their sin, only from its penalty.
Their “faith” is emotional; they do not live it out with action. Jesus is part of their lives, but not in control of their lives. They structure their lives so they don’t have to live by faith.
In his typical fashion, Chan, as does Dante from seven centuries ago, convicts and calls us to overcome too much comfort, to be real in our faith.
Francis Chan’s new book Until Unity ties our embrace of authentic faith over a lukewarm counterfeit to Christian unity. Steeped in biblical evidence, Chan says “the unsurrendered will always be at odds with the Christ followers, lobbying for their sins to be overlooked and fighting for their own desires in ungodly ways. . . .
“[The lukewarm] find common ground [among themselves] in judging the radicals who dare think Christ calls everyone to deny themselves and pick up crosses. . . . They can even rally together against those who still believe that the commands of Scripture are still valid today.”
We watch this conflict within the Church. It goes on around us daily. It occurs both at high levels and in small congregations.
“[T]here are many people in churches who do not truly follow Jesus, and with them, there can be no unity. It is our responsibility to lovingly confront them and call them higher. But if they remain unchanged, it is never our responsibility to lower the bar in the name of unity,” (emphasis Chan’s).
The lukewarm live among us. Many sleep.
We will not win them by being like them. We must show them Christ. We must love them, but only in truth.
We can be the hot cup of reality in a community drowsy from the lure of the unreal.
And what must overflow from our hot cups are love and truth.
Nancy, thank you for posting this! It is very timely for me. I will be spending a couple of hours this morning with one of the people you wrote about, and I need to “speak the truth in love” and invite that person to come up higher – or as C. S. Lewis said, “Further up and further in!”
Thank you and God bless you in your meeting and beyond!
Powerful post and one we all need to hear! God wants our WHOLE HEARTS. We must be all in for God.
Amen, Jessica. All in! God bless and thanks!
Powerful post. I’ve talked to so many who say they’re on the fence regarding Christianity and I’m reminded of Jesus’s words in Matthew 12:30. We’re either for Him or against Him. There is no middle ground. There is no fence.
The fence is the lukewarm place that’s beyond awful. Thank you, Ava. God bless!
Thank you Nancy for writing such profound truth. You are one of the few that calls a spade a spade.
Thank you, Bambo. Speaking truth is crucial. God bless!
Amen. We must show the love of Christ to everyone. Our example may lead others to Christ.
We can pray our example does just that. Thanks, Melissa. God bless!
So very well said Ms. Nancy. I pray daily that God stoke His fire that burns within my soul. I pray it be a refining fire that helps me to grow closer to Him and one that helps me to show Him to others through the way He guides this life I have given to Him.
What a great prayer, J.D.! May He do that for all who claim to be His. Thanks and God bless!
The lukewarm remind me of King Saul. He cared more about what the people thought than about what God commanded. He took matters into his own hands and lost the kingdom. His life did not honor God and his heart was with acclaim from others. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for that analysis, Barbara. God bless!
I really want to read Chan’s new book so I was excited to read your information. I pray that God reminds me when I am being lukewarm. I want to be on fire for Him. Thanks for sharing
Amen, Yvonne. I’ve made more progress in Chan’s pages. It’s a potentially life-altering book. I hope it’s a Church-altering message that we heed. Thanks and God bless!
Thanks for reading, Yvonne. God bless!
It’s difficult. I’ve often felt that within the church (the building) on Sundays, there exists the real church (body of Christ) meeting alongside a group of others who are merely looking through the windows, thinking they’re “the church” when their actions, attitudes, and words indicate that they are not. These do great damage to young believers. These need the Gospel repeated in various ways in the hope that they will comprehend. But only God can save. it’s all in his hands.
It is in His hands. We are to call people to authentic faith. Some will hear. You’re so right. Too many play church and don’t realize that’s what they’re doing. Thanks, Melinda. God bless!
I love the idea of being a hot cup of reality in the midst of a lot of cultural apathy. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Joanna. God bless!
So true, Nancy. The lukewarm live among us. I like this quote by Chan, “the unsurrendered will always be at odds with the Christ followers, lobbying for their sins to be overlooked and fighting for their own desires in ungodly ways. . .”
He really does put a picture of today into a nutshell. Thanks, Karen. God bless!